the Week of Christ the King / Proper 29 / Ordinary 34
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Song of Solomon 5:2
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Young Woman
I slept, but my heart was awake, when I heard my lover knocking and calling: "Open to me, my treasure, my darling, my dove, my perfect one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night."I was asleep, but my heart awoke: It is the voice of my beloved that knocks, [saying], Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled; For my head is filled with dew, My locks with the drops of the night.
I sleep, but my heart is awake. I hear my lover knocking. "Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my perfect one. My head is wet with dew, and my hair with the dampness of the night."
The Beloved about Her Lover:
I was asleep, but my mind was dreaming. Listen! My lover is knocking at the door!The Lover to His Beloved:
"Open for me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one! My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night."I sleep, but my heart waketh: [it is] the voice of my beloved that knocketh, [saying], Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, [and] my locks with the drops of the night.
I was asleep, but my heart was awake. It is the voice of my beloved who knocks: Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled; For my head is filled with dew, My hair with the dampness of the night.
"I was asleep, but my heart was awake. A voice [in my dream]! My beloved was knocking: 'Open to me, my sister, my darling, My dove, my perfect one! For my head is drenched with the [heavy night] dew; My hair [is covered] with the dampness of the night.'
She
I slept, but my heart was awake. A sound! My beloved is knocking. "Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one, for my head is wet with dew, my locks with the drops of the night."Y slepe, and myn herte wakith. The vois of my derlyng knockynge; my sister, my frendesse, my culuer, my spousesse vnwemmed, opene thou to me; for myn heed is ful of dew, and myn heeris ben ful of dropis of niytis.
I was asleep, but my heart waked: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, [saying], Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, my locks with the drops of the night.
I sleep, but my heart is awake. A sound! My beloved is knocking: "Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my perfect one." My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.
She Speaks: I was asleep, but dreaming: The one I love was at the door, knocking and saying, "My darling, my very own, my flawless dove, open the door for me! My head is drenched with evening dew."
I was asleep, but my heart waked: It is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled; For my head is filled with dew, My locks with the drops of the night.
I am sleeping, but my heart is awake; it is the sound of my loved one at the door, saying, Be open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my very beautiful one; my head is wet with dew, and my hair with the drops of the night.
[She]
I am asleep, but my heart is awake. Listen! I hear my darling knocking![He]
Open for me, my sister, my love, my dove, my flawless one! For my head is wet with dew, my hair with the moisture of the night.I slept, but my heart was awake. The voice of my beloved! he knocketh: Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, mine undefiled; For my head is filled with dew, My locks with the drops of the night.
I am asleep, but my heart is awake. I hear my lover knocking, saying, "Open to me, my darling, my love, my dove, my perfect one! My head is soaked with dew. My hair is wet with the mist of the night."
I sleep, but my heart waketh; Hark! my beloved knocketh: 'Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled; for my head is filled with dew, my locks with the drops of the night.'
I sleepe, but my heart waketh: it is the voyce of my beloued that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my loue, my doue, my vndefiled: for my head is filled with dewe, and my lockes with the drops of the night.
King Solomon "I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride. I have gathered my perfume with my spice. I have eaten my honey and the comb. I have drunk my wine and my milk. Eat and drink, friends. Drink much, O lovers." "I was asleep, but my heart was awake. A voice! My love was knocking: ‘Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one! For my head is wet from the water on the grass in the early morning. My hair is wet from the night.'
I slept, but my heart was awake. Listen! my beloved is knocking. "Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one; for my head is wet with dew, my locks with the drops of the night."
I sleepe, but mine heart waketh, it is the voyce of my welbeloued that knocketh, saying, Open vnto mee, my sister, my loue, my doue, my vndefiled: for mine head is full of dewe, and my lockes with the droppes of the night.
I slept, but my heart was awake; it is the voice of my beloved who is knocking, saying, Open to me, my sister, my beloved, my harmless dove; for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.
The Woman
While I slept, my heart was awake. I dreamed my lover knocked at the door.The Man
Let me come in, my darling, my sweetheart, my dove. My head is wet with dew, and my hair is damp from the mist.SHEI, was sleeping, but, my heart, was awake, - The voice of my beloved - knocking! Open to me, my sister, my fair one, my dove, my perfect one, for, my head, is filled with dew, my locks, with the moisture of the night.
I sleep, and my heart watcheth: the voice of my beloved knocking: Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is full of dew, and my locks of the drops of the nights.
I slept, but my heart was awake. Hark! my beloved is knocking. "Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one; for my head is wet with dew, my locks with the drops of the night."
I am a sleepe, but my heart is waking: I heare the voyce of my beloued when he knocketh, saying, Open to me O my sister, my loue, my doue, my dearling: for my head is full of deawe, and the lockes of my heere are full of the nyght doppes.
I sleep, but my heart is awake: the voice of my kinsman knocks at the door, saying, Open, open to me, my companion, my sister, my dove, my perfect one: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.
I was sleeping, but my heart was awake.A sound! My love was knocking!
I was asleep, but my heart was awake. It is the voice of my beloved who knocks: Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled; For my head is filled with dew, My hair with the dampness of the night.
I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.
I was asleep but my heart was awake. A sound! My beloved knocking! "Open to me, my sister, my beloved, my dove, my perfect one! For my head is full of dew, my hair drenched from the moist night air."
I sleep, but my heart is awake. It is the sound of my Beloved that knocks, saying , Open to Me, My sister, My love, My dove, My undefiled. For My head is filled with dew, My locks with the drops of the night.
I am sleeping, but my heart waketh: The sound of my beloved knocking! `Open to me, my sister, my friend, My dove, my perfect one, For my head is filled [with] dew, My locks [with] drops of the night.'
As I was a slepe, & my hert wakynge, I herde the voyce of my beloued, wha he knocked. Open to me (sayde he) o my sister, my loue, my doue, my derlinge: for my heade is full of dew, and ye lockes of my hayre are full of the night droppes.
The Woman
I was sound asleep, but in my dreams I was wide awake. Oh, listen! It's the sound of my lover knocking, calling!The Man
"Let me in, dear companion, dearest friend, my dove, consummate lover! I'm soaked with the dampness of the night, drenched with dew, shivering and cold.""I was asleep but my heart was awake. A voice! My beloved was knocking: 'Open to me, my sister, my darling, My dove, my perfect one! For my head is drenched with dew, My locks with the dew drops of the night.'
"I was asleep but my heart was awake. A voice! My beloved was knocking: 'Open to me, my sister, my darling, My dove, my perfect one! For my head is drenched with dew, My locks with the damp of the night.'
"I was asleep, but my heart was awake.A voice! My beloved was knocking:‘Open to me, my sister, my darling,My dove, my perfect one!For my head is full of dew,My locks with the damp of the night.'
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
sleep: Song of Solomon 3:1, Song of Solomon 7:9, Daniel 8:18, Zechariah 4:1, Matthew 25:4, Matthew 25:5, Matthew 26:40, Matthew 26:41, Luke 9:32, Ephesians 5:14
the voice: Song of Solomon 2:8, Song of Solomon 2:10, John 10:4
knocketh: Revelation 3:20
Open: Psalms 24:7-10, Psalms 81:10, Proverbs 23:26
my dove: Song of Solomon 2:14, Song of Solomon 6:9, Psalms 119:1, Revelation 3:4, Revelation 14:4
my head: Song of Solomon 8:7, Genesis 29:20, Genesis 31:40, Genesis 31:41, Isaiah 50:6, Isaiah 52:14, Isaiah 53:3-5, Matthew 8:17, Matthew 25:35-45, Mark 1:35, Luke 6:12, Luke 22:44, 2 Corinthians 5:14, 2 Corinthians 5:15, Galatians 2:20
Reciprocal: Genesis 24:16 - known Job 24:8 - wet Psalms 63:6 - General Song of Solomon 1:9 - O my Song of Solomon 4:9 - my sister Song of Solomon 5:5 - rose Song of Solomon 5:6 - my soul Song of Solomon 6:4 - beautiful Isaiah 5:1 - wellbeloved Isaiah 26:9 - have I Daniel 10:9 - was I Haggai 1:2 - This Matthew 12:50 - and sister Mark 3:34 - Behold Mark 13:36 - he find John 20:16 - She 1 Corinthians 9:5 - a sister
Cross-References
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.
And Adam said: "This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man."
But did He not make them one, Having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, And let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth.
And He answered and said to them, "Have you not read that He who made [fn] them at the beginning 'made them male and female,' Genesis 1:27; Genesis 5:2">[fn]
But from the beginning of the creation, God 'made them male and female.' Genesis 1:27; Genesis 5:2">[fn]
And He has made from one blood [fn] every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,
Gill's Notes on the Bible
I sleep, but my heart waketh,.... Like persons that are half awake, half asleep, whom Cicero x calls "semisomni". Christ and the church having feasted together at his invitation, she soon after fell asleep, as the disciples did after a repast with their Lord; yet not so fast asleep but that she was sensible of it; for this was not the dead sleep of sin, in which unconverted men are, and are insensible of; nor a judicial slumber some are given up unto, and perceive it not, yet a frame of spirit unbecoming saints, and displeasing to Christ; though consistent with grace, which at such a time is not, or very little, in exercise; they are slothful in duty, and backward to it; the phrase is sometimes used to describe a sluggish, slothful man y; they are indifferent and lukewarm about divine things, content themselves with the bare externals of religion, without the lively exercise of grace, and without fervency and spirituality in them, and seem willing to continue so; :-; but the church here was not so overcome with sleep but her "heart was awake". Jarchi, and some ancient Jewish writers z, interpret this and the former clause of different persons; the former, "I sleep", of the bride; this, "my heart waketh", of the bridegroom; and then the sense is, though I am in a sleepy frame, he who is "my heart", a phrase used by lovers a, my soul, my life, my all, he never slumbers nor sleeps, he watches over me night and day, lest any hurt me; but both clauses are rather to be understood of the same person differently considered, as having two principles of grace and corruption, as the church has, which are represented as two persons; see Romans 7:18; as the carnal part in her prevailed, she was the "sleeping I"; as the new man, or principle of grace appeared, her "heart [was] awake"; for, notwithstanding her sleepy frame, she had some thoughts of Christ, and stirring of affection to him; Some convictions of her sin, and some desires of being in her duty perhaps, though overpowered by the fleshly part; the spirit was willing, but the flesh weak. Christ's response to his church in this case follows, and is observed by her; he spoke to her so loud, that though sleepy she heard him, and owns it,
[it is] the voice of my beloved: in the ministration of the Gospel, which is to be distinguished from the voice of a stranger, even when dull and sleepy under hearing it, and little affected with it. Christ was the church's beloved still, had an affection for him, though not thoroughly awaked by his voice, but sleeps on still; this method failing, he takes another, or repeats the same with an additional circumstance,
that knocketh, saying, "open to me": which is to be understood not so much of his knocking by the ministry of the word to awaken her out of sleep, but in a providential way, by taking in his hand the rod of affliction, or scourge of persecution, and lashing therewith in order to bring her out of her carnal security; see Revelation 3:20; and he not only knocked but called,
[saying], open to me, open the door unto me, and let me in; so lovers are represented as at the door or gate to get admittance, and know not which to call most hard and cruel, the door or their lover b: there is an emphasis on the word "me"; me, thy Lord, thy head, thy husband, thy friend, that loves thee so dearly; to whom her heart was shut, her affections contracted, her desires towards him languid; wherefore he importunes her to "open" to him, which denotes an enlarging of her affections to him, an exercise of grace on him, an expression of the desires of her soul unto him; which yet could not be done without efficacious grace exerted, as in Song of Solomon 5:4; but, the more to win upon her, he gives her good words, and the most endearing titles, expressive of love and relation,
my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled, which are all made use of before, excepting the last; see Song of Solomon 1:9; that is, "my undefiled", which she was, not as a descendant of Adam, nor as in herself, but as washed in the blood of Christ, justified by his righteousness, and sanctified by his Spirit; and as having been enabled by divine grace to preserve her chastity, and keep the "bed undefiled",
Hebrews 13:4; not guilty of spiritual adultery among all her infirmities, even idolatry and superstition; see Revelation 14:4; or "my perfect one" c; not in a legal, but in an evangelical sense, being completely redeemed, perfectly justified, fully pardoned, and sanctified in every part, though not to the highest degree; and perfect in Christ, though not in herself: other arguments follow to engage her attention to his request;
for head is filled with dew, [and] my locks with the drops of the night; through standing so long at the door, in the night season, waiting to be let in; so lovers represent their case in such circumstances, as dealt very hardly with d: by which may be meant the sufferings of Christ, either in the persons of his ministers, who are exposed to the rage and reproach of men for ministering in his name to the church; or which he endured in his own person, in his estate of humiliation; and particularly in the night he was betrayed, and during the time of darkness he hung upon the cross, when he bore the sins of his people, and his Father's wrath; compared to "dew", and "drops of the night", because of the multitude of them he endured in soul and body, and because so uncomfortable to human nature; though as dew is useful and fructifying to the earth, so were these the means of many fruits and blessings of grace, and of bringing many souls to glory; now though these arguments were expressed in the most strong, moving, and melting language, yet were ineffectual.
x Familiar. Epist. l. 7. Ep. 1. y "Qui vigilans dormiat", Plauti Pseudolus, Act. 1. Sc. 3. v. 151. z Pesikta in Jarchi, Tanchama in Yalkut in loc. a "Meum mel, meum cor", Plauti Poenulus, Act. 1. Sc. 2. v. 154, 170, 175. "Meum corculum, melliculum", ibid. Casina, Act. 4. Sc. 4, v. 14. b "Janua vel domina", &c, Propert. Eleg. 16. v. 17, 18, 19. c תמתי τελεια μου, Sept. "perfecta mea", Montanus, Tigurine version, Marckius "integra mea", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Michaelis. d "Me mediae noctes", &c. Propert. ut supra. (Eleg. 16.) v. 22, &c.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Some time may be supposed to have elapsed since the bride’s solemn espousals with the king Song of Solomon 4:7-1. A transient cloud of doubt or estrangement is now passing over her soul, as by the relation of this dream she intimates to her friends. Ancient allegorical interpreters find here a symbol of the condition and feelings of Israel during the Babylonian captivity, when the glories and privileges of Solomon’s Temple were no more, and the manifested presence of the Holy One had been withdrawn. Israel in exile seeks the Lord Song of Solomon 5:8, and will find Him again in the second temple Song of Solomon 6:3-9.
I sleep, but my heart waketh - A poetical periphrasis for “I dream.” Compare the ancient saying: “Dreams are the vigils of those who slumber, hopes are waking dreams.”
The voice - Or, “sound.” Compare Song of Solomon 2:8, note. She hears him knocking before he speaks.
My undefiled - literally, “my perfect one.” Vulgate “immaculata mea.” Compare Song of Solomon 4:7.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Song of Solomon 5:2. I sleep, but my heart waketh — This is a new part; and some suppose that the fifth day's solemnity begins here. Though I sleep, yet so impressed is my heart with the excellences of my beloved, that my imagination presents him to me in the most pleasing dreams throughout the night. I doubt whether the whole, from this verse to the end of the seventh, be not a dream: several parts of it bear this resemblance; and I confess there are some parts of it, such as her hesitating to rise, his sudden disappearance, &c., which would be of easier solution on this supposition. Or part of the transactions mentioned might be the effects of the dream she had, as rising up suddenly, and going out into the street, meeting with the watchmen, &c., before she was well awake. And her being in so much disorder and dishabille might have induced them to treat her as a suspicious person, or one of questionable character. But it is most likely the whole was a dream.
For my head is filled with dew — She supposed he had come in the night, and was standing without, wet, and exposed to the inclemency of the weather.
